One last comment on JW

People have to choose what they want to believe, because you obviously can't believe all you hear (although it's clear some people do even when what they hear is absurd!!)
I know the recruiting of JW is done and he's signed with ISU - so I have wished the guy good luck and even congratulated ISU on finding a way to land the kid, he is a talented kid with a fine potential.

But the sources I have that have given me info on John Wilkins for the past couple years, have been so consistent and so incredibly accurate, that I have to continue to trust they are correct even in the face of contradicting statements from nebulous sources. My sources have been both accurate and ahead of the pace of everything elsewhere - even though on most occasions the people most in the know about JW have kept the talk off the boards as BU was still in the game until just recently.....

Remember - I was one of the ONLY people (and just possibly the only one) saying the "commitment to Iowa State" a couple weeks ago that was being reported as fact (even by the PJ Star) and believed as gospel by everyone from the local newspaper to the majority of message board posters, was - in fact - NOT TRUE, and as time wore on, it became apparent that
AGAIN my sources were pretty much the ONLY ones that WERE accurate while everyone else believed the hype and the lie..
The PJ Star had and still has big time egg on their faces over this one and they totally fell for an erroneous report and went with it despite making NO effort to check the facts or talk to anyone involved in this story. Strangely, despite past similar errors, there were still tons of people on the boards who fell for the "commitment to Iowa State" story hook, line, and sinker, and even used the false PJS story to feed their misbelief. Ultimately the PJS claimed someone "misspoke" but had they even made just one phone call - they'd have avoided the embarrassment of running a story with a totally false storyline.

Well, as I reflect back, I can recall about 20 other things that my sources on JW were pinpoint accurate on while others either had no clue or were reporting falsehood.
Now that he's verballed to ISU, then I guess there's little reason to sidestep further discussions as we are no longer recruiting him, so here goes........

-I was the very first person anywhere to report or mention the existence of JW as a recruit but did so extremely privately and kept all the info about him off the boards), following the Central Shootout in June of 2008 where his name was being whispered. (btw- my sources are not coming from the the coaching staff - they do a good job of keeping everything silent, but people did know JW and saw him when he first came to Peoria in summer of 2008 and voluntarily attended a camp that was unaffiliated with BU - the rest of the press didn't start reporting on him until he started playing AAU ball in July)
-my sources were precisely accurate in regard to his abilities and talent and the fact that BU was on him and had the lead for his commitment
-my sources also were the first to mention JW's involvement in AAU and the numerous offers he got..even noting his stats in the games he played in Las Vegas
-they were first and most accurate in predicting he would eventually spurn all those other 50 offers and verbal to Bradley
-the first to report on his stats and teams in Europe and that he had a near-7-footer brother
-first to note that he was driving down to Peoria from Gary, Indiana in order to attend and be present at the "Tailgate" event in the fall of 2008 where most people first saw or became familiar with JW
-the sources were the first and most precise in revealing the NCAA's tilt against JW and the liklihood of not getting NCAA clearance
-the first to note the NCAA would rule against him on the amateur & professionalism issue and dock him games like they did to Lucca Staiger
-they were the first to predict he'd be denied initial eligibility to BU and go juco
-first to name the juco
-first to describe him as a SF and NOT a post player or center despite being 6-9, and that he's not a guard
-first to mention or discuss the NJCAA's denial of eligibility even to play juco ball, and discuss the odd and extremely rare and virtually uniqueness of the ruling and the appearance that JW was singled out for an extremely unfair and unprecedented ruling by NJCAA
-first to mention his lawsuit
-first to find and mention the reason his suit was stalled
-first to note he was getting recruited by other schools
-first to name the other schools and even predict he would NOT end up at Iowa State
-the first and virtually the ONLY to CLEARLY state that he was NOT committed to Iowa State despite widespread and erroneous reports that he was verballed there
-first by at least a week (before anyone else anywhere knew of it) to note his trip to Providence and note a reason why JW was not pursued further by them
-only one to mention the reasons he was not landed by IU even tho it would have been his first choice..and that he waited a month for their firm offer which never came
-the first to note all the reasons the other schools backed off
-the first by several days to note he was being discussed in Houston and was visiting down there
-first to mention ISU's involvement and their recruiting methods and promises
-and the first to actually note his commitment to ISU - mentioned on Saturday and again Sunday before the news broke anywhere else
-first to detail that he will NOT have 4 years left and not even likely be able to swing 3.5 because of the clock ticking
-also one of the only sources that consistently got it right that he never signed a LOI to Bradley, never enrolled at Bradley, and that his "clock" did NOT start ticking in conjunction with anything to do with Bradley - it started "ticking" when he enrolled at juco
-now finally my same sources also detail a few shady things that happened in connection to his recruitment, some "conditions" and how they were met by ISU....
(which, btw, these exact same reports surfaced from guys at Indiana, Houston, Iowa State and other sources....so the similarity of those reports all coming from widely different sources is extremely hard to refute)

...so with such an incredible track record of accuracy going back TWO YEARS, I doubt I would believe some anonymous spin in a message board post and reject the very sources that have previously been 100% accurate....but you have to decide who you want to believe.....I have made my choice.

BTW - if you want to find a little more about John Wilkins that maybe you didn't know, google these terms...
"John Walter Wilkins"
"Jamaal Malik Wilkins"



Also - note that Dick Versace just can't get basketball out of his blood...

Now that he's totally retired, he took in some great AAU basketball at the ChicagoHoops.com Nike Spring Showdown...
"Former Indiana Pacers head coach Dick Versace was
also on hand to watch ...
there's a huge amount of talent here....."
http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/local/article_1c0e1a33-15bd-57c1-ad80-4bf89e4aa7ae.html


And he's gonna be doing some clinics overseas with other long time experienced coaches...
at the Folgaria Basketball Camp 2010 in Italy the last part of June...
"..this year marked by the presence of American
coaches who need no introduction: Doug Moe (a true
legend for Padua), Dick Versace, Terence Stansbury
and Rudy D'Amico." (translation)
http://news.tuttobasket.net/News/leggi.php?id=228699